Dead Rage
by Krohn815
Summary: During and Post-Endgame. The team witnessed Kid Flash die while saving the world. 8 months later, they learn that a legendary monster is coming for their planet. However, is this really a monster, or really someone they thought they had lost a long time ago? Spitfire, Dick/Babs, Wonderbird. M content in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing. DC owns it all.

 **Palo Alto**

 **June 20**

 **09:00 PT**

 **2 hours after chrysalis**

There were literally no words to describe what Artemis was feeling. Not only had she lost her partner, she had lost the lover of her life, her soul mate, her _friend_. When she was a child, she dreamed of finding the perfect man, somebody she could spend the rest of her life with. She thought it was a foolish dream, however. With one parent in prison and crippled, the other a criminal and assassin, and her sister in the wind, she never thought her life would ever be normal. Not until she met the team.

When she was first approached about joining a group of teenage superheroes, she was ecstatic. Her mother had recently gotten out of prison, and now she had a chance to do some good to try to make up for the sins of her family.

However, the last thing she expected was to fall in love with one of them, especially _him_. She expected that at least some of them were around her age and fairly-good looking. She was just looking for someone to have a little fun with, and not get too attached with them. And when Wally West first came through that zeta tube, clad in only swim trunks and stumbling over his own feet, her first thoughts were, "Not him".

She didn't even notice his good looks because the perfectly chiseled rock known as Superboy made everyone seem sub-par. His goofy personality and annoyance with her also prevented her from seeing his amazing qualities. As time went on, however, when she got a good look at what he was like in the heat of battle, when he was all business, she slowly grew to tolerate him.

This tolerance grew into something more as she got to know him better, and saw the true him he kept hidden under that lackadaisical persona. He was a sweet, kind, caring boy, that, when you really got to know him, provided the best company.

After finally getting together, Artemis and Wally built a beautiful thing. They created a loving relationship that lasted all high school. When college came around, they were elated to learn that they could both go to the same college that was a fit for them. After a year in the dorms, they took the next step, and moved in together, so they could wake up every morning beside each other. She didn't think it could get any more domestic, but then they had to adopt the cutest dog they ever saw. Of course, nothing perfect _ever_ lasts.

Despite the "perfect" life she had with Wally, when Dick told her about the undercover mission, she couldn't resist. She chose to be separated from Wally for several months, which were some of the hardest of her life. Ultimately though, the mission paid off, or so she thought.

They had gathered enough evidence to exonerate the Justice League, and destroyed the already fragile alliance between the Light and the Reach. That, and the capture of several key Light members made it a great victory. However, the Reach had one final trick up their sleeves.

The MFD's were a, regrettably, brilliant plan, that, if it wasn't being used on Earth, she would applaud it. She and Kid Flash took out their MFD easily enough, and had an amazing victory kiss under the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Unfortunately, the 21st MFD, the hidden one, reached chrysalis stage before anyone could get to it. Impulse and Flash tried to negate it by running around it in the opposite direction, but couldn't get enough kinetic energy. When Artemis turned to ask Wally what he thought their chances were, he had already gone on his way.

That was the last she ever saw of him.

Now, in their house, that they shared together, all ahe could do was hold Brucely as close as possible, sit on the couch, and cry.

 **Team Warehouse, Bludhaven**

 **June 20**

 **18:00 UTC**

 **4 hours after chrysalis**

The entire team, aside from the founders, sat in mourning after Kid Flash's death. Even though most of them didn't even know his real name, they had heard many stories about him. About how he joined with 2 other sidekicks on an unauthorized mission, that gave birth to a team that molded young heroes, who, when of age, would eventually join the Justice League. All they could do was think about how his actions allowed them to have a tomorrow.

Eventually, to try to relieve the tension, Garfield suggested the all go see a movie. Most of the others quickly agreed. Only two remained in the now eerily quiet warehouse.

Robin worked on modifying his birdarangs, while Wondergirl watched tv. However, her mind wasn't paying attention to what was on the screen.

Ever since Kid Flash's death, Cassie couldn't stop thinking about the day when she would die. Since her mother was mortal, she was only a demigoddess, not a full-fledged immortal amazon. She could die tomorrow or the next day. Life was short. She had to make the most of it, how she wanted, and who she wanted to with.

Ever since she joined the team, Tim had caught her eye. He was strong, fast, agile, and smart. Even without powers, he brought more to this team than she or anyone else with powers did. He was a mysterious one, however. His dark and moody personality was a lot different from her bubbly, enthusiastic personality. However, her repeated attempts at getting him to open up eventually yielded results. He started with small details, but eventually became comfortable telling her about his parents, their deaths, even telling her his real name. She now considered him to be one of her best friends on the team, but wanted it to be something more.

When she looked back over her shoulder, Tim was gone. Cassie walked to his room, and cautiously knocked on the door.

"Tim, are you there?" Cassie softly asked.

After several seconds, the door opened, with Tim giving an expressionless stare.

"Whats up?" He spoke in a monotonous voice.

"I... just wanted to see how you were doing." 'Perfect,' she thought, already digressing.

"About as good as can be. Right?" He said with a weak smile.

"Right. Well, no matter what happens, we will always be friends."

"Of course. Oh, I left something downstairs. Excuse me."

"Right, sorry." She watched as he walked away.

After that she mentally smacked herself. What was she doing? She needed to show him how she felt, no matter what. It was time to be bold.

Tim was searching for one of his small tools he used to modify his birdarangs. Eventually he found it on the kitchen table. Just as he was about to head back, however, a hand grabbed his shoulder, and spun him around. Tim barely had enough time for his eyes to widen before Cassie ripped off his mask and forced her lips on his.

Tim let out a little gasp of surprise, which quickly turned into a moan as Cassie forced her tongue through his lips. After a moment to regain his senses, Tim thrust out his own tongue, and engaged in a battle for dominance. As Cassie tightened her grip on his neck, he pulled her in by her waist. Cassie began to pull at his black hair, eliciting more moans from Tim. Soon they had to break apart for air.

"I have wanted to do that for a while." Cassie breathed out.

Tim grinned, "Likewise."

"Good for you two," a voice spoke from the other end.

Tim and Cassie whipped their heads around to the source of the voice. They saw Miss Martian standing there, with a guilty look on her face.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Just had to grab something from here. Carry on."

As soon as the door shut, Tim and Cassie burst out laughing.

"So are we a thing now?" Tim inquired.

"Hell yeah." Cassie recaptured his lips.

 **Bludhaven**

 **June 20**

 **21:00 UTC**

 **7 hours after chrysalis**

Nightwing sat in his apartment thinking about what to do. After Wally's death, he felt like he needed to do something. However, what could he do? The Reach had been beaten, and soon they would leave Earth. After that, it was back to business as usual. Unfortunately, Dick didn't think he could go back to business as usual.

Wally's death hit him almost the hardest of anyone. Wally was his best friend, and Dick didn't know how to keep leading a team that he and Wally helped begin all those years ago. He just needed to take a break, some time to sort things out. He then decided that, as soon as the Reach was gone, he would take a leave of absence from the team. Some of them, namely Kaldur and Artemis, might want him to stay on, but Dick knows that he would just slow them down in his current state.

They could easily run the team without him. Batgirl was perfectly capable of filling his shoes, and Aqualad would already take over as leader. Now all Dick had to do, was find the right time to tell them.

 **The Watchtower**

 **July 4**

 **18:00 UTC**

 **14 days after chrysalis**

The team and the league had gathered in the Watchtower to celebrate the departure of the Reach from Earth. However, Batman had other big news to share with them. The announcement that the team would now work side by side with the league in the Watchtower brought a smile from everyone's faces, including Artemis'. However, the feeling didn't last. The man she loved was still dead. She needed to try to stop thinking about that however she could.

To that end, she decided to rejoin the team as Tigress full time. This would give her the change she needed to hopefully try to get past Wally's death.

"I need to do this Kaldur. Wally helped us start all this, and I just need some time to think about how I can do this without him." Dick said.

Kaldur sighed, "I understand. Take care my friend."

Dick smiled, "You too."

Unbeknownst to them, a figure was silently listening in on their conversation. Nightwing may have thought that he needed to be alone right now, but this figure knew better than anyone that he shouldn't be alone right now.

As Dick took one last look at the team as Batman gave out assignments, he smiled, and said, "business as usual." He then stepped onto the zeta platform, typed in the coordinates for Bludhaven, and disappeared in a flash of light.

 **Unknown Place**

 **Unknown Time**

In an unknown location, there was almost no highly intelligent life. There was vegetation and organisms of different sizes and shapes. However, none of them were much smarter than a dog, and relied solely on instinct to get by. Except for one.

In the middle of a dense jungle, a figure was laying on his back, unconscious. Slowly, the figure stirred. His hands began bending, and his eyes started to flutter. He groaned, as his body felt like it had just been torn apart and sloppily put back together. As his consciousness fully returned, he slowly sat up. When he tried to open his eyes, the light blinded him at first. When he finally got used to the light, he first noticed his surroundings.

He was lying on the floor on what appeared to be the floor in the middle of a very humid jungle. The trees prevented a large fraction of the sunlight from getting through. Vines were everywhere, and it was green everywhere. However, something wasn't right.

The fruit hanging off the trees looked like nothing he had seen anywhere or in any books. At first, he thought he was seeing things, until a mosquito looking creature the size of a Cadillac flew over him. At this he started to freak out.

'What the fuck is going on?' the figure thought.

He then slowly brought himself to a standing position. He looked in every direction, and saw what appeared to be a place where the jungle ended. He cautiously walked toward the clearing, unable to see very much after the jungle ended. When he finally came out, what he saw shocked him.

There were 3 suns in the sky, all equally bright. In the distance there was a river whose water was floating _up_ a waterfall, into another river above.

As Wally West stared in amazement, he wondered, "Where the hell am I?"


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing. DC owns everything.

 **North Pole**

 **June 20**

 **14:00 UCT**

 **Chrysalis**

"It's no good Barry. Aw man, Artemis is so going to kill me for this. And don't even get me started on mom and dad."

"Kid…"

"Just tell them, okay?"

"Kid!"

Barry's voice faded out as Kid Flash disintegrated. However, instead of darkness, Wally felt only pain. He felt like he had been torn apart molecule by molecule. He couldn't think, couldn't speak, couldn't move. He only saw blinding light, and he could feel his essence moving. It wasn't slow, it was more than 75% the speed of light. What's worse was that he never stopped. He just kept floating with no destination in mind. This went on for hours. For _days_. He wouldn't have wished this pain on his worst enemy. If this was hell, then it was 10 times worse than what was described in the bible or any other religion.

After god knows how long, he could feel himself begin to cluster together. His atoms slowly reformed, side by side, almost as close as they were when he was whole. Images flashed in his vision. A planet covered in nothing but green and blue. Then it was closer. Then he saw only green. Then trees, ground, then it all became darkness

 **Unknown Place**

 **July 5**

 **15 days after chrysalis**

'Okay, okay, okay…' Wally thought.

He was still staring at the sight before him. Obviously, he was not on Earth anymore. If the 3 suns didn't point that out, then the vastly different wildlife, vegetation, and direction of the waterfall's flow did. Wally's brain was going at light speed, trying to process what he was experiencing. For the first time in what felt like forever, he took off running.

Wally ran in a straight line, towards what looked like a mountain. From there he would try to get a better vantage point. Unfortunately, it would be impossible to tell which direction he was heading or would ever head.

He couldn't discern north, south, east, or west with 3 suns in 3 different positions. Also, there was no way to tell whether any of the suns were positioned the same way the sun was positioned to Earth. They were close enough that life could be sustained, that was for sure. The current temperature was in the mid 70's and a bit humid. That seemed normal. But for all Wally knew, this was what it was like all year, or maybe it got scorching hot at some point, or freezing cold. It took centuries for early civilizations to figure out and make an accurate calendar of the seasons on Earth, time which he most certainly did not have.

Eventually, Wally made it to the base of the mountain, then the peak. When he looked out however, all he could see was miles and _miles_ of wild jungle. He could see a few rivers here and there. And there was a lake in the distance.

"But nothing. There is nothing." Wally somberly stated.

There was no evidence of any orderly civilization or anything that indicated a species that could help him. However, he suddenly remembered he still had his commlink. Everything that was on him also got vaporized and carried with him. This was the highest he could be, as he saw no other mountains anywhere. Thus, this was the best place to be to send out a signal.

"Watchtower, this is Kid Flash, do you read me?"

After a few moments, he tried again

"I repeat, this is Kid Flash. I am stranded on a planet that has conditions similar to Earth. It is orbiting 3 suns, and the atmosphere is breathable."

The more time passed, the more panicky he got.

"Nightwing, Captain Atom, can you hear me?"

Nothing but static

"Artemis?"

Just more static

Wally fell to his knees, desperation beginning to show on his face.

"Can anyone, _anyone_ hear me?"

Nothing, absolutely nothing.

The realization hit Wally like a ton of bricks. How long had he been just floating through space, a bunch of scattered atoms and molecules seeking to be whole? It was impossible to know for sure, but it had been at least a couple of weeks. And during that time, he had been traveling at speeds faster than he had ever run in his life. He was too far away from earth for anyone to pick up his signal. And the way he just disappeared, he had to assume that everyone thought he was dead. So no one would even be looking for his signal.

He was stuck here, permanently.

 **Bludhaven**

 **July 10**

 **20:00 UTC**

 **20 days after chrysalis**

So far, Dick's little "sabbatical" wasn't making him feel better. Drinking, even though he was underage, could temporarily alleviate the pain, but then he was sick for several hours. He tried going on patrol (Just because he wasn't on the team anymore, didn't mean he couldn't keep fighting the good fight), which also helped, but once his adrenaline was back down he felt empty again. He even tried meditation, but could never completely quiet his mind.

So now he was reduced to constant exercise and binge watching to keep his mind of things. He wasn't expecting anyone to bother him during his leave of absence. He hadn't even told anyone where he was going.

That was why he was surprised when he heard a knock on his door.

Already dressed in t-shirt and sweatpants, Dick put on his sunglasses and made his way to the door. When he opened it, he was surprised to find Barbara standing there, duffel bag in one hand, Chinese takeout in the other. Dick switched his gaze from her to the food and back. Hesitantly, he moved aside letting her in.

"What's in the duffel?" Dick asked.

"Clothes. I'm staying here tonight."

As Dick opened his mouth to speak, she cut him off

"I get that you think you need to get through this alone, but you're not alone. Wally was my friend too. I cared about him too."

Dick quickly replied, "Yeah, but I-"

"And before you say that he was practically your brother, and that it's even worse than when Jason died, remember when you said you didn't want to become like Batman?"

Dick nodded

"If you continue down this road, isolating yourself, not letting anyone in, you _will_ become him, whether you like it or not."

Dick sighed. He knew what Barbara was saying was true, but he didn't know if he _could_ stop himself from continuing down the road he was on. He had already gotten pretty far already.

When Dick didn't say anything Barbara spoke up.

"Look, you've got 2 choices here. You can tell me to go and wallow in your misery, or you can watch a sci-fi marathon with me and share Chinese food. What's it gonna be?"

Dick carefully weighed his options. Barbara was his best friend, with benefits sometimes. However, he had always wanted more. He wanted to be with he, but his reputation as a "dog" got in the way of that. He understood it. If he couldn't commit, then he shouldn't try. However, Barbara was the one girl he felt he could actually change for.

"Which movies?"

"Star Wars, original trilogy only of course, and the original 6 Star Trek movies."

After a final moment of contemplation, Dick smiled for the first time in days.

"Pop in the movie, I'll open the food."

Barbara smiled, and went to start the movie, but paused to stare at Dick longer than she meant to. She knew that this was the right thing to do. She had to do something to save him from drowning in his misery. Unfortunately, she was worried about herself too. She had always loved Dick. She had loved him since they were children. But she knew she couldn't be with him. If not because of the dangerous lives they led, then definitely because of his dog-like attitude toward dating. However, she thought he had matured a lot over tha past year.

For now, she was just going to try to comfort him, nothing more.

 **Palo Alto**

 **July 10**

 **22:00 UTC**

 **20 days after chrysalis**

"Remember when we came over and Wally tried to make a soufflé?" M'gann asked.

Artemis smiled. She had invited M'gann and Conner over to try and have a good time, while also distracting herself from the emptiness inside her.

"How could I forget? The thing literally blew up in his face?"

They all laughed at that. This was the greatest any of them had felt in a while. Both Conner and M'gann were worried about Artemis. They felt that she was distancing herself and throwing herself into her work. They were glad when Artemis called and invited them over.

While they were talking, Artemis noticed that Conner and M'gann were acting more intimate with each other. This, and the fact that they were holding hands, gave her an idea of what was going on.

"So, are you two back together?" Artemis asked with a sly smile.

Both Conner and M'gann began blushing, and turned their heads away in an attempt to hide this. Artemis, however, was not known to give up so easily.

"Come on. You guys know you can tell me anything."

M'gann eventually raised her head and replied.

"We're giving it another go. We didn't tell you because you just lost…" M'gann trailed off.

Artemis understood what her friend was trying to say.

"It's okay M'gann. Just because I lost Wally, that doesn't mean that I don't want to know about my friends love life. What's important to you is also important to me. Never forget that."

M'gann smiled, "Thank you, Artemis."

"What are friends for?"

A loud beep emanated from the kitchen.

"Oh, dinner is almost ready. Just give me 5 minutes." M'gann then went to pull the pot roast out of the oven.

Five years ago, Conner would have had absolutely no idea of what to say in this situation. Luckily, his emotional capacity had greatly improved since then.

"Look, Artemis. I am so sorry for what happened. I can't even begin to imagine what you are going through right now. Just know that M'gann and I will always, _always_ be here for you whenever you need it. That's a promise."

"Thanks Conner. I know."

She did know. Artemis knew that her friends would be there for her at her lowest. After all, Wally was their best friend too. She knew that they would miss him almost as much as she did. They could at least partly understand her pain, her despair. Artemis also knew that with their help, she would get through this. She had gone into the fire, and with her friends she would come out the other side stronger and tougher than ever.

"Dinners ready!" M'gann called from the kitchen.

Both Artemis and Conner quickly sprang up from their seats. They made their way over to the kitchen, where all three of them sat down around the table.

"The food looks delicious M'gann." Artemis complimented.

"Thank you, Artemis."

Conner then raised his glass, "I would like to propose a toast."

M'gann and Artemis raised their glasses.

Conner continued, "These past few weeks have been rough on all of us. We lost a friend and comrade. Despite being able to break the sound barrier in his sneakers, he was the most "normal" out of all of us. He didn't keep secrets, he always did his best to lighten the mood. He was very good at expressing his emotions, and it was a shame what happened to him. However, he gave his life so that we could live. And together, we will make sure that his sacrifice was not in vain. We will continue to protect the Earth and our loved ones to honor his memory."

He then held his glass in the center, "To Wally."

Artemis and M'gann followed suit, "To Wally."

Artemis then added, "May he rest in a better place."

 **Unknown Place**

 **July 15**

 **09:00 UTC**

 **25 days after chrysalis**

"This is the worst place I have ever been in my life."

That was both the truth and a lie. While being stuck on another planet a long, long, _long_ way from Earth would naturally be the worst place you could ever end up, it could have been worse. He could have ended up on Mars and died instantly. Instead, he landed on a planet that was the next best thing to Earth. For instance, there was an abundance of fruits and plants that Wally had by now determined were edible. The diverse wildlife also provided a big source of protein. In fact, there were some things here that were also found on Earth.

Nevertheless, Wally vented his frustrations as he worked in his shelter.

Once Wally realized he was going to need to fend for himself, he got to work. This went faster than you'd think, due to his speed. He managed to find an area rich in what was apparently obsidian. From this he fashioned sharp edges to cut wood, then used this to make crude tools, such as a knife, a spear, and a tomahawk.

Using these tools, he got to work cutting down bamboo and smaller trees. The material was very good for a shelter. Luckily for Wally, the League forced everyone to take mandatory survival training in case they ever got stranded somewhere. Wally wondered if they ever thought this might happen. After a day's work, his shelter looked pretty good. It was actually more of a treehouse. After a particularly disastrous run-in with bull like creatures the size of rhinos, Wally decided to make camp above ground.

It wasn't anything special. Just an 8x10 foot shack suspended in the branches of an exceptionally large tree. He used vines to secure it, and leaves to waterproof the roof. His chances of survival were great.

It was his chances of escape that frustrated him.

Wally was currently trying to hook up his commlink to a spare walkie on his uniform in order to boost the radio signal. That way, he could also scan for any possible signals emanating from somewhere else. Unfortunately, he was having trouble.

The wires just refused to stay connected. Without a soldering iron, he could only twist them together. The more the wires disobeyed him, the more angrier he got. Eventually, when it just seemed like he had, the wires sparked and fizzled out.

"Goddamn it! Fuck, fuck, fuck." Wally was pissed. The wires connecting the com to the walkie were partially burned, and now to short to reach each other. Not only did this destroy the last of his hope, but he fully realized he would never see Artemis again. Never get to hold her, or kiss her, or tell her how much he loved her. He would be completely alone for the rest of his life.

The anger surged in Wally's head. It was all he could think about.

Suddenly, however, something happened he most certainly was not expecting.

Everything in his vision became a light shade of red. And it looked like it was burning. The anger in his head turned from smoldering frustration to blazing, white hot rage that overwhelmed him. He suddenly felt the need to destroy everything in his path, eviscerate every living creature he could…

As quickly as it came, the anger was gone, leaving Wally with a minor headache.

"What on Earth was that?"

Eventually, Wally sat down and mulled over his options.

He could easily survive here. The game, fruit, vegetables, and water were plentiful. So far, the temperature had remained in a reasonable range. He had quickly adapted to having 3 suns, which were actually a lot farther away than Earth's sun was to Earth. This prevented the planet from burning to a crisp.

Wally realized the only way to keep himself from going crazy would be to keep busy. He decided to continue improving his treehouse, start a garden to grow crops, anything to distract himself from the loneliness. He then went to work, having absolutely no idea what really caused his little "episode".

 **Bludhaven**

 **July 15**

 **18:00 UTC**

 **25 days after chrysalis**

Dick Grayson was happy.

That was something he was not expecting to be so soon after Wally's death. Happy. He thought his depression would last for months before it could even be a little bit alleviated. However, Barbara was right. He shouldn't go through this alone. If he tried, he would have drowned in his own misery. Barbara had slept on his couch for several nights, then going into school, then coming back to take his mind off things.

She was a true friend. Not a replacement for Wally, but something else entirely.

They were both sitting on the couch, surfing the cable channels and eating tacos. They were locked in a debate between a romance comedy and action film.

"You seriously would rather watch a guy pine after a girl, get the girl, lose her, then get her back after a convoluted race to the airport, than a samurai take on an army of ninjas?"

"Well I'm sorry Dick if your tastes differ from my own, but I'm entitled to an opinion here."

Dick smirked, "My house, my rules."

Barbara cracked a smile, "You owe me for brightening up your life. Trust me, it was terrible before I came here."

"Wow, low blow."

"Sorry, but it's true."

"Well I have the remote, and I say ninjas!"

Jut as he was about to change the channel, Barbara snatched the remote from his hands.

"Hey give that back!"

As Barbara scooted back into the arm of the couch, Dick began to hover over her.

Both of them started chuckling as Barbara clutched the remote close to her chest.

"I am asking nicely for you to give it."

"Sorry, but that tone won't work on me. If you want me to give it back, you're going to have to make me, Grayson."

Slowly, both of them realized the position they were in, then began to stare into each other's eyes. Both thought the other had beautiful eyes.

All logic, reason, and sense of right and wrong slowly vanished from their minds as they brought their lips together.

 **Unknown Place**

 **July 15**

 **14:00 UTC**

 **25 days after chrysalis**

Wally always tried to figure out the logical solution to things. He tried to keep himself separated from the world of magic and focus on science, because science he could control. Wally however, had no idea what caused his "episode." He had never had any thoughts of utter destruction and mass genocide before in his life. Eventually, he reluctantly decided he was suffering a nervous breakdown. He wasn't a psychiatrist, so he couldn't make a definitive diagnosis. However, he had also felt something besides anger: Power. He had felt an enormous power inside him rising. It was power he never felt before. Eventually though, he moved on. No use pondering over a one-time thing. Little did he know that it was _way_ more than a nervous breakdown.

 _5 hours earlier_

Approximately several thousand miles from Wally's position, there was a small object. Suddenly, this object sensed something it hadn't in a long time. Anger. In response, the object began pulsing and glowing bright red. Just as it did this, Wally had his "episode." Once Wally snapped himself out of it, the object stopped glowing, and returned to its previous state. However, this was not the last time it would ever activate…


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Dc owns it all.

Warning: M rated material in this chapter.

 **Bludhaven**

 **July 15**

 **18:00 UTC**

 **25 days after chrysalis**

As soon as their lips came together, neither Dick nor Barbara wanted to let go. Barbara quickly threw the remote away, then put her arms around Dick's neck, tangling her hands in his soft hair. Dick put one hand on the back of her neck, and the other on her lower back. Their tongues instantly came together, wrapping around each other and exploring the other's mouth.

Barbara groaned as their hips came together, and she felt Dicks hardness rub against her warming center. Some part of her brain told her to stop, but she wanted this so damn much.

Likewise, Dick never wanted to stop this. He forgot about everything. Wally, the team, everything in the world around him faded away. Everything except the woman in front of him.

As he switched from her mouth to her neck, Dick quickly pulled his hand from her back and slid it up her shirt, cupping one of her bra covered breasts.

Barbara moaned in sweet bliss as Dick massaged her breast, and she only got louder as he got under her bra.

Taking charge, Dick quickly pulled Barbara's top off, followed by her bra. Before Barbara could even try to recapture his lips, he wrapped them around her right breast and sucked hard, while continuing to massage the other one.

Barbara nearly screamed at the contact. This was all she wanted, to just hold Dick while he pleasured her. However, she knew she couldn't let him have all the fun. She managed to halt his sucking by sliding a hand below his waistband. Dick moaned this time as she cupped his member, and began squeezing it, hard. She pulled his shirt off as she rubbed up and down his length, from the head to his ball sack. She continued this action as she pushed him so he was laying down on the couch. She began placing kisses on his forehead, cheeks, eyes, nose, and ears, before moving down to his neck. She started licking down his jugular, before settling on one area and using her teeth. Soon, the area became dark and bruised.

Dick, unable to just lay back any longer, grabbed her face and recaptured her lips in his. Barbara then slowly unbuckled his pants. She pulled off both his pants and boxers in one move, letting his hardness spring free. Dick understood what she wanted, and pulled off her pants as well.

He slowly massaged her through her underwear. Barbara groaned as her panties began to dampen. Before she could make another move, Dick looked her in the eye, and asked her:

"Is this what you want?"

Barbara smiled, and replied, "Yes."

With that, Dick slowly pulled down her panties, and started to position himself under her. He wanted to go slowly, but Barbara couldn't have that right now. She needed this. She needed _him_.

Both of them cried out when Barbara slammed her hips down on Dicks, taking all of him inside at once. Once they got over the initial shock, Dick began pulling out. At the same time, Barbara slowly lifted herself up. Once only the tip was still inside her, they both collided with each other again. This time, there was less pain, way more pleasure. They repeated this technique again, and again, and again. As they did this, their lips reconnected and again began tangling with each other.

After several minutes, both of their bodies were covered in sweat, and a feeling had built up in both of them, and was only getting stronger as they continued colliding. They couldn't even kiss because they were too busy breathing heavily from this exercise. Instead, they licked at the sweat pooling on their necks.

Finally, the feeling inside them reached a breaking point. As Barbara unleashed a final cry of bliss, her walls tightened around Dick's hardness, squeezing it harder than her hands ever did.

At the same time, Dick felt himself go over the edge, and he plunged himself inside one final time, feeling as his hardness let out a flood of cum into his best friend.

Barbara collapsed onto Dick's body, tired and spent, but making no effort to remove herself from him.

Dick began to lightly kiss her neck as he thought about the situation. This wasn't the first time they had done this. Each time though, Barbara insisted they couldn't be a couple because he was a "dog." However, she had said that he wasn't ready for her "yet." This meant there was a chance. Dick decided to take that chance.

"So, you think maybe it could be different this time? That we could at least try and give this a shot?"

Barbara stared at Dick, and thought about it hard. She thought she always had a good reason not to officially get together with Dick, but she could see the truth in his eyes. He truly loved her, and he really wanted to be with her. She wanted to be with him too, but naturally still had some reservations at taking such big step.

Dick noticed her look, "Okay, how about this? We do a trial 'un-separation'."

Barbara's look was replaced with confusion, "Excuse me?"

Dick laughed, "Well you know how fighting couples try a trial separation for 30 days, then at the end reevaluate? I'm suggesting we instead do the opposite, where we give this a go for about a month, then see where to go from there."

Barbara thought about it for a moment. Eventually, after so much back and forth internal debating, she came to her final decision.

"I'm not sleeping on this couch anymore."

"Well I think you know that my bed can fit the both of us. How about we relocate there?"

At this Barbara grinned, "Get a move on then, Grayson."

She put her lips back on his and re-secured her hold on his neck. Dick wrapped his arms around her, lifted her up, and carried her to his bedroom.

Hours later, when they finally quieted down, they laid back into the pillows and cuddled as close as possible.

"I love you," Dick whispered.

After a second of thought, Barbara replied, "I love you too."

()()()()()()()

When Wally first became aware of his surroundings, he realized he was no longer sleeping on his bed of leaves. It was an actual bed, with sheets and an actual pillow. Then he felt the presence of another body. He immediately opened his eyes and looked to his side. He nearly yelped in surprise. There she was, the love of his life, sleeping next to him.

He couldn't believe it. It must have all been a nightmare, a really terrible nightmare. He didn't get torn apart and blasted to another planet. He came home from the mission safe and sound. He and Artemis went back into retirement, and had gone back to their perfect domestic life with Brucely. He looked at her hand.

'Still no ring. Gonna fix that today.' He thought.

He then noticed that she was waking up. He lightly brushed her hair out of her face as her eyes fluttered open.

He smiled, "Hey babe. Good morning."

She didn't smile back, however.

"Why did you do it?"

Wally became confused, "Do what?"

Suddenly, her café contorted to that of one with anger, "Don't lie! You know what you did! You just had to go and be the hero didn't you? You had to leave without saying goodbye. You had to kill yourself."

Wally was thoroughly shocked, "Artemis, I did that to protect you and everyone else I care about. I love you!"

"No you don't. You don't love me. If you did, you wouldn't have gone and gotten yourself killed. Because of you, I am dead inside. Because of you, you are now trapped in a place where you will never leave. You will never see me again, or Dick, Conner, M'gann. You will rot for the rest of your pathetic life alone. And it's all because of you."

Wally had no idea what was going on. This felt so real, but Artemis was never this angry with him. At least not since they got together.

"You will never get the life you wanted. You will never get married, have kids, and grow old and die with the person you love. All because of your stupidity."

Suddenly her eyes were replaced by glowing, red flames. And what came out of her mouth next was not in her voice, but in a deep, demonic growl.

"Doesn't that just make you _angry_?"

 **Unknown Place**

 **August 5**

 **08:00 UTC**

 **1.5 months after chrysalis**

Wally shot out of his make shift bed and fell onto his shelter's floor. His body was covered in sweat. His mind was racing at 1000 miles per hour.

"What the hell was that?"

It was obviously a dream, but it felt so real. And when Artemis went all demonic at the end, it reminded him of the incident when he had lost his head for minute. Something was going on, and Wally didn't think it was just a simple nervous breakdown anymore. Maybe when his body was reconstructed, his brain wasn't as complete as he thought it was.

However, since he first arrived, his other mental capacities all checked out. His intelligence was the same, he could remember everything that he could before his "demise." Besides, his problem apparently only affected one part of him: his anger. During his "episode," his anger had increased ten-fold, to the point where he couldn't even think straight. And just now, in his dream, he could feel the anger again. He felt it when Artemis launched into her tirade, when her eyes glowed red and she asked him if he felt angry.

Wally suddenly remembered something he mentioned in his dream. This caused him to remember something he had completely forgotten about since his arrival. He went to a box that he kept his uniform in. He opened it, then searched for one of the hidden compartments in his uniform. When he found it, he pulled out a ring. It was a gold colored band, with a small diamond on top in the shape of an arrow.

He had gotten it while Artemis was away on her undercover mission. During that time, he realized that he couldn't live without her, and wanted to make the final step in their relationship. He was going to pop the question when they got back home from taking down the Reach. He had kept it on his person because he wanted to do it as soon as they walked in the door.

Wally was actually glad he had taken the ring with him when he was vaporized. At least this way, Artemis would never accidentally stumble upon it when she eventually cleaned out his sock drawer. She was probably feeling terrible, and finding out he was going to propose would probably only exacerbate that pain.

Not wanting to just sit around thinking about a life that was in the past, Wally got up and went outside. It was a beautiful day today. Clear skies, right temperature, low humidity. It was time for him to hunt.

Since he got here, he had tried to figure out all the species that were in the area. There were some bugs that resembled mosquitos and flies, except much larger. There were tiger-like creatures with reptilian skin and tusks. There were also winged animals whose bodies were the size of boars, but they had wings that resembled those of a bat. He chose to hunt these because they were both the meatiest, and they were the easiest to take by surprise.

Wally picked up a net, a spear, and his makeshift bow and arrows. In their 5 years of dating, Artemis had taught him how to use one. He was good, but nowhere near Artemis' skill set. However, that was enough to be able to hit a large animal from a distance.

Wally silently sped around the jungle, trying to find a sign or trail he could track. Despite having wings, these creatures spent a lot of time on the ground. Finally, he picked up one's trail. After cautiously following for 10 minutes, he came upon the creature. It was drinking water, distracted. He began to ready the net. Early on, he learned that the best way to deal with this creature was not a head-on attack. When he tried to get one with a spear, it easily slapped him away with its wings, and flew off. Even his speed was no match for it.

So, in order to keep it grounded, he would first net it. But even then, it still thrashed all over the place, and Wally would still have a hard time getting close. Wally rectified this by first firing as many arrows as he could into the beast. Only then, would he go in for the kill.

Wally began this process by circling around the beast in front of him. Once the beast's back was to him, he prepared to throw the net. He made sure it wasn't tangled at all, then chucked it. As planned, it unfurled into a flat square right above the beast. Right as the beast looked up, the net dropped down right on it. When the beast naturally tried to fly away, it only became more tangled in the net. Wally saw his chance, and began running in a circle around the beast, using his speed to let out a huge quantity of arrows in a matter of seconds.

Some of the arrows were blocked by the beast's wings, others came in at the wrong angle and bounced off. Most of them, however lodged themselves in the beast's flesh. The beast let out a cry of pain at the multiple wounds, and its thrashing only pushed the arrows in deeper. The beast began to slow its movements.

Wally took this as his chance to deliver the final strike. He readied the spear, holding it by the bottom and the middle. Once he was sure he was ready, he charged with all his speed.

Any normal human would have been able to sink the spear a couple of feet into the creature. However, with Wally's speed, the spear went all the way through, and the tip came out the other side, covered in crimson blood.

Wally wasn't a pro-hunting guy, and he certainly abhorred animal cruelty. However, he had no choice if he wanted to survive. Also, the meat _was_ really good-tasting.

When he pulled the spear out, however, his vision started to go red again. Thoughts of ripping the dead carcass apart and then killing every other animal he could find passed through his mind. Before these thoughts could get any stronger, Wally bit his tongue, and it ended.

Sighing, Wally tied a rope around the beast's leg, then began dragging the animal back to the camp.

 **Team Warehouse, Bludhaven**

 **August 6**

 **10:00 UTC**

 **1.5 months after chrysalis**

"How am I supposed to guess George Clooney when you're impersonating Daniel Craig?"

Bart stared at Jaime in utter shock.

"Are you kidding me? This is totally how George Clooney moves in the movies."

He again gave his walking impression of Clooney.

Jaime shook his head, "Nope, that's Daniel Craig."

Bart let out a gigantic sigh, "Fine, I give up. Who's next?"

The team (except Dick) was currently playing a game to see who could do the best impressions. In uniform, they were just trying to pass the time until the next mission. Even though they were working side by side with the Justice League, they still lived and spent their downtime in the warehouse. Unfortunately, the power had gone out in a particularly windy storm. There were backup systems, but they only powered emergency lights and the main computer, so they had to resort to using "old-fashioned" forms of entertainment.

Garfield stood up, "I'll go. Here's my…"

"No animals!" Robin interjected.

Garfield stared at him, "Who made you rule maker?"

Robin just stared right back, giving the most threatening bat glare he could.

This worked, inevitably, as Garfield quickly backed down.

"Fine. Here's my Batman impression then."

"Impossible," everyone said in unison.

"Are you kidding me? All I have to do is stand here and glare. Watch."

Garfield then glared straight ahead at nothing.

This had absolutely no effect on anyone in the room.

La'gann snickered, "More like Forrest Gump"

After this Garfield lost it.

"You know what? How about we play the "Try not to get eaten by a tiger game"?"

He then transformed into a green-furred tiger, roared, and lunged at La'gann.

"Aaahhh!" La'gann yelled out.

He started running in a zig-zag formation around the room, trying to dodge Garfield's attacks.

"Get away from me man! Can't you take a joke?"

The tiger roared what vaguely sounded like a, "No."

The others didn't bother stepping in, instead going off to do their own activities. They knew that if Garfield caught La'gann, he wouldn't actually eat him. He was better than that.

Cassie was eating some leftover Greek cuisine, when she noticed Tim head into the training room. She smirked, figuring now would be a good time for a "private conversation." She slipped out of main area and followed him. When she found him, he was practicing his birdarang throw. Of course, he hit his targets right on the dot, but still felt the need to practice. She slowly floated over to him, intending to try to surprise him. She was right behind him, about to strike…

"Don't even think about it Cassie."

Cassie dropped, then facepalmed.

"How? I didn't make a sound."

"I could smell the perfume I got you for your birthday."

Cassie smiled at this. Her birthday was 2 weeks ago, and Tim had proved to be much more observant than she thought, because he got her a perfume she had been pining after for months.

"Well I just wanted to stop by, see how you were doing."

As she said this, she gripped his shoulders and started to rub his neck.

Tim smirked, "One moment."

He then walked over to the door, and locked it.

"Just in case."

They walked up to each other and pressed their lips together.

They tried to start slow, but quickly lost themselves in their embrace. Soon, their tongues tried to pin each other to the sides of their mouths, while their hand rubbed up and down each other's bodies. Cassie soon found her hands going down to Tim's rump, and giving it a good squeeze. Tim made a small noise in the back of his throat, and began lightly pushing Cassie back towards one of the tables. Tim suddenly released Cassie's mouth, then unzipped the neck part of her uniform to give him better access to it. He sucked on her pulse point, feeling her heart rate speed up, rapidly. When they hit the table, Cassie lost her footing, and Tim instinctively reached for her, his hand accidentally slipping between her legs.

Both Tim and Cassie stood still when they realized where Tim's hand had gone. Tim immediately thought that Cassie might hit him and call him a pervert. Truthfully, ever since he had noticed how elegant and beautiful her body was, he had had thoughts about his for a while. However, Cassie made no move, she didn't tell Tim to take his hand away. In Tim's experience, when you asked someone something and they remained silent, that meant yes. And when you wanted to do something and someone didn't tell you to stop, that meant yes too. That didn't mean he should be reckless, though.

Slowly, Tim pushed his thumb onto Cassie's hot point. She let out a small moan, but Tim knew it wasn't from pain. It was from pleasure. He began to grow more bold, and started using his whole hand to massage her center. As he did this, Cassie dove her tongue back down into his throat, trying to give as good as she got.

Soon, she began to feel herself getting closer to the edge. Tim, meanwhile, got more aggressive, and began stroking her intensely through her pants. He enjoyed the sounds she was making, and her growing intensity in his mouth. He just wanted to satisfy her. This was also making him excited as well.

Cassie's groans began to intensify, and she started gripping Tim's shoulders for dear life. Tim knew what was coming, but chose to keep going. Eventually, Cassie cried out hard, and the spot where Tim's hand was became completely soaked.

"Wow. Didn't know I excited you that much."

As Cassie panted from her orgasm, she smiled, "Be careful Drake. I am highly excited and have the strength of an amazon. You don't want to mess with me."

"Sorry. But that reminds me, didn't Diana tell you that men were a plague that only wanted women for their bodies?"

"Was she completely wrong?"

"Not completely. But I want you for so much more than your body Cassie."

Cassie blushed at this.

She then looked down at her pants.

"I got to let these dry before I go back out there. They'll probably dry faster if I take them off."

Tim looked at her, and a sly smile came onto his face.

"Why don't you then?"

Cassie's blush became a whole new shade of red, even though she was currently thinking about it herself. She didn't want to go _all_ the way. But she supposed it wouldn't hurt to go a little farther.

Slowly, Cassie began to lower her pants as Tim removed his gloves. At the same time, she lowered her back onto the table. Once her pants and shoes were off, Tim's hand stroked her through her panties.

The much closer contact sent waves of pleasure through Cassie's veins. She didn't think it could get any better until Tim pulled her panties off.

When nothing happened, Cassie looked up to see Tim just standing there, thinking. He suddenly put both his hands on her legs, and spread them farther apart.

"Do you trust me Cassie?"

Of course she trusted him. It didn't matter what Diana or any of the other amazons said. She knew that Tim was a good man, and he would never try to hurt her.

"Do what you want to do."

With that, Tim took a deep breath, and plunged his face in between her legs.

Cassie couldn't hold it in, "Aaahhh! Uuuuhhhh!"

Tim licked all over her center. Up and down, side to side. He could feel her starting to get wet again. He then used his tongue to separate her folds and push inside. Cassie's vision went white, and she could barely breathe as the pleasure overwhelmed her.

As Tim pushed his tongue deeper, Cassie's walls began to close in. Soon, she came for the second time that day. Tim licked up as much as he could, and wiped the excess off his face. Suddenly the power came back on.

Tim looked up and said, "We should probably get out of here before someone comes looking."

When he looked down, he saw that Cassie was still dazed from the experience. He gently kissed her jaw to bring her back to reality. Once she was aware enough, she pulled on her now dry underwear and pants.

Just as Tim was about to unlock the door, Cassie grabbed his arm.

"Tim, that was amazing. Thank you."

He smiled, "No problem. Maybe someday you can return the favor."

Cassie smirked, "Maybe I will."

They then walked back to join their friends. La'gann was staying as far away as possible from Garfield, who suddenly perked up.

He began sniffing the air, and Tim worried about what he was smelling.

Garfield, curious asked, "What stinks?"

Mal looked at him, "What are you talking about?"

"I just smell something. It smells like sweat and something else. Hold on"

He then transformed into a hound and began sniffing the air. His eyes fell on Tim and Cassie as the smell traced to them.

It did not take Garfield long to realize what happened. He had gotten the whole "birds and the bees" talk a long time ago. Also, several times while surfing the web, he had accidentally found himself on some not-so chaste websites. He immediately transformed back into his hybrid form.

"Never mind."

Tim and Cassie quickly averted their gaze from him.

 **Bludhaven**

 **August 10**

 **08:35 UTC**

 **1.5 months after chrysalis**

As Dick slowly woke up from his slumber, he smiled at the naked figure lying beside him.

The whole trial "un-seperation" thing had worked out amazingly. Dick and Barbara spent as much time as they could together, doing things during the day like walking in the park, and going to dinner at fancy restaurants at night. Shortly after they started, they both agreed that she didn't need to spend every night with him anymore. Dick had improved greatly since the day she had arrived on his doorstep. Dick was a little sad to see her go, but she had her own life to live.

Sometimes they spent the night together, like in the case of last night. He had to admit, it was a lot better waking up with someone, especially her, than waking up alone.

He slowly began rubbing her shoulder, and her eyes soon fluttered open.

She grinned, "Good morning."

"Morning."

She pulled herself closer to him and rested her head on his chest.

"I can't stay too much longer. I need to get back to the team."

"I understand."

Barbara then lifted her head up and looked at him curiously.

"Dick, I was wondering, if you would, maybe consider coming back soon? I mean, I'm not trying to pressure you or anything, but you seem a lot better. Maybe you could try easing back into it?"

Dick pondered her words for a moment. Eventually, he gave the most honest answer he could think of.

"Not yet, but because of you, it will be sooner rather than later."

This pleased Barbara, who proceeded to pull herself out of bed.

"I'm going to take a shower. You're welcome to join me."

Dick smirked, "One second."

Once Barbara entered the bathroom, Dick got out of bed and began searching the apartment. He had lost his phone during their "exercise," last night. He found it in the living room where his pants rested on the floor. However, when he picked it up, he came face to face with a picture from a long time ago.

It was him and Wally back when they were still teenagers. They were both in civilian clothing, having fun at a carnival. However, this picture didn't have as much of an effect on Dick as he thought it would. Right after Wally's death, it pained him every time he looked at this picture. But both time and Barbara had helped him at least make it so that Wally wasn't the first thing he thought about every morning.

Sighing, Dick took the picture, placed it in a drawer, and closed the drawer.

He then started walking to the bathroom, and could hear that Barbara had started the shower. When he stepped inside, she was already rubbing soap all over herself.

"Well hey there handsome. What took you so long?"

"Just needed to take care of a few things."

He then stepped inside of the shower and kissed her fiercely.

 **Unknown Place**

 **August 20**

 **15:00 UTC**

 **2 months after chrysalis**

"Uh, damn it."

Wally was currently trying to cut his hair. He had noticed it was getting a little long. And in this jungle climate he didn't need a huge mop of hair. However, all he had to cut it was a knife made from a sharp but very crude rock. It wasn't nearly as precise as his electric razor back home. He effectively decided not to use it on his slowly but steadily growing beard. He doubted he could shave it without scarring himself, literally.

Besides the hair and beard, Wally was generally becoming more of a caveman every day. His clothes became tattered, with no way to patch them or make new ones. At least, not ones that weren't made out of animal pelts. His body became thinner, with virtually no body fat on him. Without modern technology, he constantly had to rely on tools and other stuff that people hadn't used since the Stone Age. He was literally starting from the ground up.

Luckily, all this work kept his mind off of Earth and the people on it. This helped him get through each day a little easier. However, he still had a problem with rage.

He began having more "episodes" recently. Every time he started to get frustrated, it would suddenly become magnified, and he would try to wreak havoc before snapping himself out of it. Whenever he killed an animal now, he would suddenly crave more bloodshed and want to kill anything in his sights.

All in all, his life sucked. And many times, he had thought about taking the easy way out. Artemis, Barry, Dick, if you asked them, they would say that Wally was the last person to commit suicide. He never showed any signs of depression, and always had a carefree attitude.

However, that was before his life got ripped to shreds, and he ended up on a place that he would never leave.

Fortunately, Wally was way to prideful to kill himself. He also didn't have the guts to actually do it. He could take on the Injustice League, the Reach, even die trying to save the world. But killing himself, no way.

Also, he had accepted the fact he wasn't getting out of this situation a while ago. It was difficult to get past the other 4 stages of grief, but it was either acceptance or death.

So, Wally just kept moving forward. Distracting himself by making additions and upgrades to his shelter, building a system to transport water from the stream directly to his camp, stuff like that.

This was his home now, and nothing would ever change that.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

In some unknown sector of the galaxy, a small, spherical object the size of a car engine was barreling through space, moving at speeds that would make Superman sweat. It had gone on like this for millennia since the destruction of the planet it was a part of. It showed absolutely no sign of ever slowing down or stopping for anything.

However, at its current trajectory, it was on a course to collide with a planet covered in water and land. The planet was about the size of Earth, and its atmosphere was breathable. It orbited 3 suns, and its population was approximately one.


	4. Chapter 4

AN:Sorry about late update. Haven't been home in about 4 ½ weeks.

Disclaimer: I own nothing

 **Team Warehouse, Bludhaven**

 **September 7**

 **18:00 UTC**

 **2.5 months after chrysalis**

"So Captain Cold's gun backfires and coats him in ice. And I say, "You're iced!" Get it?"

Cassie looked at Jaime. They were both on monitor duty, and Jaime was trying to pass the time with jokes. She got the joke, but the lack of originality was completely unamusing. However, just to humor him, she let out a small chuckle.

"Yeah, nice one."

 _Jaime Reyes, her laughter is forced. She is clearly not amused._

"Oh like you know anything about humor. You're a freaking computer." Jaime said to thin air.

Jaime noticed Cassie was looking at him oddly.

"Sorry, just my scarab."

Cassie then turned her attention back to the monitor. Jaime also looked back at the monitor, but his attention was not on it. His attention was on Cassie.

Ever since she had recruited him, Jaime had had a little bit of a crush on Cassie. He had tried to ask her out several times, but she had declined. However, her natural obliviousness caused Jaime to wonder if she even knew what he was really asking her. He had put a stop to it when Kid Flash died, as he thought that would be a terrible time to ask her. However, it had been a couple of months, and he thought it was time to try again.

"So Cassie, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go grab a bite to eat when we finish here?"

Cassie, never taking her eyes of the screen, replied in a monotonous voice, "Can't. Have plans."

Jaime raised an eyebrow, "What plans?"

At this, Cassie's mouth curved into a slight smile, "Dinner with my mom."

Suddenly, an alarm dinged, signaling the bend of their shift.

"Oh, time to go meet her. See you later Jaime." Cassie then went to change in her civilian gear.

Jaime sunk into his chair with his head down, "See ya."

He watched as Cassie came out of the changing room and zeta tubed out of the warehouse. He sighed, having once again been shot down.

 _I warned you Jaime Reyes, that your chances of success were low_

"I know, but its been a while since I last asked, and I thought she would have been more interested."

 _On the contrary, in the time since you last attempted to ask her out, your chances of success have gone from 43.85% to 0.05%._

At this Jaime's head snapped up.

"What? How?"

 _Over the course of the last two months, Wonder Girl's biochemistry has been altered. For instance, her dopamine levels have increased dramatically._

"What does that even mean?"

 _She has shown increased levels of happiness and satisfaction. She also has had an imbalance in her hormones._

"Meaning…?"

 _Based on this data, she has already chosen her mate._

"Wait, you mean she's dating someone else?"

 _Affirmative_

"Impossible. She's Wonder Girl, not Secret Girl. If she was going out with someone, she would have already blabbed about it to all the ladies on the team."

 _You have underestimated her capacity for keeping secrets._

Jaime thought for a moment. Cassie _had_ been acting more bubbly and carefree than usual lately. Perhaps he had been mistaken.

"So who's the lucky guy? Please don't tell me its Bart."

 _Negative, Kid Flash has spent almost no time with her outside of missions. I have not been able to discern who exactly her partner is._

"If Bart's out, then that leaves Robin, La'gann, and Garfield. It can't be Robin, he's Batman's protégé, he doesn't have feelings. La'gann's, well, La'gann. And Garfield is a green monkey creature. Unless it's someone outside the team."

 _You could follow her and find out now._

"But she said she's going to dinner with her m-" Jaime stopped abruptly.

He groaned, "Let me guess, her body chemistry gave her away?"

 _Affirmative_

Jaime thought it over. It would probably be considered stalking. He was after all prying into something that was her business. However, if he could follow without her noticing, then maybe it would be alright. He just wanted to check one thing, and then he would leave her alone.

"Alright, lets do it."

He then walked to the zeta tube and checked the logs.

He frowned, "Her date lives in Gotham City?"

He then shrugged, inputted his access codes, and disappeared in a flash of light.

 **Gotham City**

 **September 7**

 **18:15 UTC**

 **2.5 months after chrysalis**

Tim was waiting patiently in front of the Gotham Pizzeria. He had a date with Cassie, who was just getting off monitor duty. These last two months with her had been amazing. She was so cute with her cheerful personality and strong body. He had done a little bit more exploring with that body since the incident in the training room. He enjoyed every minute of it.

Suddenly, arms wrapped around his torso from behind as lips began nipping at his neck.

"Hey there Cassie."

"Hey Tim."

They soon turned to face each other, and in a millisecond their tongues were battling for dominance in each other's mouths. Eventually though, they had to break apart for air.

Tim motioned towards the store, "We should really head inside."

"We should."

They then walked inside, sat at a table, and ordered their food. They talked about their days, their classes, their mentors. They always had something to talk about, and even when they didn't, they were perfectly fine just staring into each other's eyes.

Even with differing personalities, Tim and Cassie felt like they belonged with each other. It was like they were pieces of a puzzle that came together to form a whole.

Soon, they finished their meal and walked out. They were in one of the nicer neighborhoods of Gotham, and enjoyed the scenery as they walked. Tim had one arm around Cassie's shoulders, who had an arm around Tim's back. They both leaned into each other, just wanting to enjoy the moment.

However, something caught Tim's attention. It was just a small thing. A slight scraping sound, like a shoe against pavement. However, it was enough to alert Tim. He subtly began listening harder, and heard other walking noises separate from their own. But the street they were on was empty. Tim could feel someone's gaze on them, though. There was some broken glass on the street in front of them. In the reflection, he saw a guy in a hoodie about 50 feet behind them.

"We're being followed." He whispered to Cassie.

When Cassie tried to question him, he quickly silenced her, "Keep walking, act natural. Be ready."

With a slight nod, Cassie conveyed her understanding.

Tim slowly reached into the inside of his jacket for the utility belt he kept there. He got ahold of one of his explosive birdarangs.

After several excruciatingly slow seconds, Tim quietly whispered, "Now."

Tim and Cassie quickly spun around. Cassie put both her arms up and got into a fighting stance. Tim threw his birdarang at the figure following them.

In the surrounding area, a loud "Aaaaaaah!" rang out.

 _20 Minutes Earlier_

It didn't take long for Jaime to catch up to Cassie. He didn't know where she was going, but the scarab had a lock on her specific heat signature. Once he had her in his sights, he stayed on the rooftops across the street. Eventually, she stopped at a pizzeria. He saw her walk towards a boy standing in the front.

"Maybe he's just a frie-" Jaime trailed off when their make-out session began.

When they went inside, Jaime sighed in defeat.

"Well, she is definitely, officially off the market."

Jaime wanted to leave, but there was something about the guy she was with that just seemed so familiar. He quickly used his armor to zoom in on the two of them. He didn't see it at first, but then he began to notice it. The short, clean crew cut. The perfectly shaped torso. The strong, chiseled muscled arms.

"Robin?!" Jaime exclaimed.

He quickly shook his head, and looked again. The scene was still the same.

"The happy, cheerful Wonder Girl is dating the dark and brooding Robin?"

 _It appears that way Jaime Reyes._

The two suddenly excited the pizzeria and began walking away. Jaime quickly went down to the street, and began trailing behind them.

 _Warning, Jaime Reyes, your chances of being spotted have risen greatly_.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine."

As they continued walking, Jaime tried to be as stealthy as he could be. However, he had no idea just how observant Robin was when it came to small noises.

Right after he turned a corner to keep them in his sights, they both whipped around.

 _Warning, Jaime Reyes, their actions appear hosti-_

Jaime barely had time to react as a birdarang came flying towards his face.

"Aaaaaaah!" Jaime screamed.

A loud clang rang out when the projectile lodged itself into his armor.

Relief swept over Jaime, but was quickly replaced by fear when he saw the blinking red light on the birdarang.

"Ay caram-"

That was as far as Jaime got before a loud boom occurred followed by a flash, then darkness.

 **Team Warehouse, Bludhaven**

 **September 7**

 **19:00 UTC**

 **2.5 months after chrysalis**

 _Awaken Jaime Reyes._

"Huh-what? What hap-"

As Jaime opened his eyes, he was startled to find Robin and Wonder Girl standing right in front of him.

Suddenly, the events of the last hour came back to him.

"Oh, he-hey guys!" he stuttered.

He had to think quickly. He really didn't want them to know why he had been in Gotham.

"Before you say anything, it's not what it looks like."

Robin raised an eyebrow, "Really? Because it looked like you were following us during our personal time."

Jaime swiftly replied, "No! I was just responding to a 911 in Gotham. There was a B&E alert at a pawnshop."

Robin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

 _Warning Jaime Reyes, Robin does not believe you. Recommended tactic: Eviscerate him before he eviscerates us._

Robin's voice jolted Jaime from his scarab's voice, "Okay, first of all, if there really was a B&E, I would have been alerted to it. Second of all…"

He then pressed a button on the computer, and a video popped up. It was footage from one of the security cameras in the cave. Jaime realized what it was, and a second later came to the conclusion he was doomed.

" _Wait, you mean she's dating someone else?"_

 _A small pause._

" _Impossible. She's Wonder Girl, not Secret Girl. If she was going out with someone, she would have already blabbed about it to all the ladies on the team."_

 _Another pause._

" _So who's the lucky guy? Please don't tell me its Bart."_

 _Another pause._

" _If Bart's out, then that leaves Robin, La'gann, and Garfield. It can't be Robin, he's Batman's protégé, he doesn't have feelings. La'gann's, well, La'gann. And Garfield is a green monkey creature. Unless it's someone outside the team."_

 _Another pause._

" _But she said she's going to dinner with her m-"_

 _A shorter pause._

" _Let me guess, her body chemistry gave her away?"_

 _Another pause._

" _Alright, lets do it."_

 _Footsteps, then silence._

" _Her date lives in Gotham City?"_

The video stopped there.

"For the record, I have feelings."

"And I'm not an idiot. I can keep a secret!"

Jaime began sweating profusely. He was currently sitting in front of a guy who knew all his weaknesses, and a girl who could take on Superboy head to head.

 _Your fear is irrational Jaime Reyes. I have calculated a way in which we can take them both out in approximately 5.3 seconds._

However, this did nothing to assuage Jaime's fear.

Wonder Girl broke the silence, "Let me just see if I'm getting this right. You followed me in order to see who I was going on a date with? Do you know what the words "personal life" mean?"

Jaime had trouble forming a reply, "Well, see…I was just curious?"

Wonder Girl's mouth contorted into an even deeper frown, "You sure it wasn't because you were jealous because you have tried to ask me out several dozen times?"

Jaime's expression transformed into one of surprise.

"Oh, come on. How oblivious do you think I am? I've watched enough tv to know when someone is asking me out."

Jaime took a deep breath. He figured the only way to get out of this relatively unscathed would be to give the best apology of his life.

"Look, I'm very sorry. Your right, I was jealous. I was jealous, because I like you Cassie."

Wonder Girl's expression softened, which Jaime took as a sign to continue.

"That still wasn't reason to spy on you, follow you, intrude on your personal life. If you've found happiness, then I can be happy about that. I hope you can understand."

Robin and Wonder Girl thought about Jaime's words for a moment. They then looked at each other for a moment, and turned back to Jaime.

Robin then said one word, "Go."

Jaime didn't need to be told twice, as he quickly scrambled out of the chair and to the zeta platforms. Once they were sure that he was gone, Robin and Wonder Girl turned back to each other.

"Think he'll tell anyone?"

Cassie let out a giggle, "Did you see his face? He looked like he was going to pee himself. I don't think he'll say anything to anyone."

Tim couldn't help but smile, "Well I'm sure he knows that if he does, he will have to face the wrath of Wonder Girl."

"Don't forget about the very elaborate, high-tech, super humiliating pranks from Robin."

"That too."

 **Unknown Place**

 **September 20**

 **00:20 UTC**

 **3 months after chrysalis**

Stargazing.

That was Wally's favorite activity at night. Stargazing.

At first, he had done it just to see if he could spot any familiar constellations or stars. If he did, that meant he was closer to Earth than he thought. However, the search soon proved futile. Eventually, he began to see the beauty of just staring at the stars he could see. He had managed to find new constellations, and came up with outrageous names for them. For instance, there was Dick the potato, or the Big Club and the Little Club.

He was just glad to have another distraction to take his mind off of the current situation. And not one as gruesome as hunting or tiring as labor. Without a telescope, it wasn't as interesting as back on Earth, but still beautiful.

Wally was currently sitting on the roof of his treehouse, enjoying a midnight snack of meat and some weird pink fruit that tasted like the sweetest thing in the universe. Without any light pollution, he was granted unlimited access to all the stars in the sky. Sometimes, he would become lost in it all, and just stare for hours.

"Wish you were here, babe." Wally somberly stated.

The view was amazing, but without someone to share it with, Wally wasn't truly happy. Then again, how could he ever be truly happy in a place like this?

If wishes could come true, then he truthfully wished to be back on Earth, staring at the recognizable star systems with his true love.

Something caught Wally's eye, stirring him from his thoughts. There was a small object with a slight tail streaking across the sky.

Wally grinned, "Shooting star."

Wally hadn't seen any of those during his stay here, and it was a nice treat. Suddenly, however, the supposed "shooting star" began to curve. It was slight at first, just a little to the right. But it began to curve more downwards, towards the ground.

Wally became puzzled, "Shouldn't it have burned up by now?"

The object began to get brighter, and soon it stopped curving downwards. It appeared to stay in place, but seemed to get better. That was when Wally realized two things. 1st: The object had managed to breach the atmosphere relatively unscathed. 2nd: It was coming right him.

"Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck!"

Wally's instincts told him to hit the deck, or in this case, the roof. He could feel the heat emanating off the object as it flew towards him.

"This is it, this is it, this is it…"

Wally's heart just about gave out when, instead of crashing into the treehouse, the object soared 15 feet above him, and continued on its path for 5 more seconds before a resounding _crash_ was heard.

 **Palo Alto**

 **September 20**

 **00:20 UTC**

 **3 months after chrysalis**

Artemis suddenly sat up in bed. She had been having the most peculiar dream. She had had nightmares about Wally a lot, but they had begun to simmer down recently. And this wasn't the same as the others. Instead of watching him cease, she instead saw him reaching for her.

It looked like he was trapped, hurt, and desperate. And he continuously said one thing, over and over.

"Help me, Artemis."

Artemis knew it was only a dream, but it had felt so real. Wally's pain and desperation had felt so strong. It was like she could sense he was actually in trouble somewhere.

"Don't be ridiculous. Wally is dead. The man you loved is dead."

Black Canary had suggested that she repeat this phrase to herself daily. She claimed it would help her come to terms. Surprisingly, it was actually working. Artemis found that it got easier and easier each time she said it.

Like the nightmares, the pain was fading.

However, it wasn't like she was forgetting him completely. Despite her friends and Canary's advice, she still hadn't bothered to get rid of his things. She had put them into boxes, but didn't get rid of them. She still kept all of the pictures of him and her out for her to see. And she couldn't bring herself to sleep on his side of the bed. It was just too hard.

Still, though, it was getting easier.

A nudging brought Artemis out of her thoughts. She smiled as Brucely began licking her. Ever since Wally, she had let him sleep with her, to keep her company. Sighing, she scratched his head, layed back down, and whispered, "Go back to sleep boy."

She didn't have anymore dreams that night.

 **Unknown Place**

 **September 20**

 **09:47 UTC**

 **3 months after chrysalis**

Wally was tired.

He was really tired.

After the meteor impacted, he had spent the next 10 minutes just clinging to the roof, in shock. However, when it became apparent that the crash was starting a raging blaze, Wally was forced into action. It actually wasn't that hard to deal with. The High humidity and tropical climate made the area a not so ideal place to burn. It was just a matter of running around the fire to remove all the oxygen. This quickly killed all the flames. The object was still glowing orange. So, in order to prevent another fire, he collected water from a nearby lake and thoroughly wet the area around the meteor.

After all this, it had gotten really late. Wally barely had time to get any sleep before it was time to begin the day's work. Once he had some time, however, he went to check out the crash site.

The meteor was now cool to the touch. Wally then inspected it more, and found that it wasn't just normal space rock. It looked like a normal meteor at first, but upon closer inspection, it appeared to also have some darker, harder spots. This seemed to comprise about 60% of the meteor.

"That explains why it didn't break apart in the atmosphere, or when it hit the ground."

However, Wally thought there was something familiar about it. He felt it, stared at it, even smelled it. After a moment of thought, it came to him.

"Iron. It's iron."

Wally then laughed, "Not that big a deal. I don't need such a large supply of iron at the moment. Though I could use it to make better arrowheads, knives, and other tools. Maybe to strengthen the structural integrity of the treehouse or connect-"

Wally stopped at that word. _Connect_. He suddenly thought back a couple of months ago. He thought about his attempt to merge the communicator and back-up walkie to strengthen the signal. It hadn't worked because the wires burned out and were no longer long enough to connect.

"But if I can melt the iron down, make it thin enough. I can maybe make it into small strands, then braid it into several wires."

If he could do that, then he could connect the wires together to get the electricity flowing. Then it could perform its function. Wally wasn't hopeful that it would yield any results, but all the same it was something to do.

He knew it would be hard. He had no forge, and no tools to break it into smaller pieces. It was going to require a lot of work.

"Well, I better get started then."


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

 **Unknown Place**

 **October 5**

 **13:30 UTC**

 **3.5 months after chrysalis**

To say this was a lot of hard work would be a _massive_ understatement. For starters, Wally spent hours and hours chipping off all of the non-metallic pieces of the meteor. Once all of the big chunks were off, he had to really dig in to get everything out. If he had a power washer, this would be over in seconds. However, with no electricity or hoses, he had to do it the old fashioned way. Once he finally finished, it looked like one of those abstract art pieces. Next was to construct a forge. His speed maybe could have helped, but he tried not to use it as much anymore.

He always had enough to eat, but also spent much energy daily to make that happen, and his eating was just enough to counteract that. That was without his speed. If he used his speed, his fast metabolism would go into overdrive, his body would feed on itself, then goodbye world.

So he worked slowly. He worked and he worked, all the while just holding onto the hope of getting the device working.

For the forge, he shaped mud into bricks, then heated them until they were hard. He then stuck them together with tree sap into a large structure that looked like half a beehive with a hole in it. He then gathered all the driest, hottest burning wood he could. He filled the entire floor area with it.

Now, he was trying to figure out a way to melt the meteor and keep the molten metal. He needed a container. He could make a wooden one, but the molten metal would just burn through it. His best bet would be a rock. But he didn't know whether to use a bowl shaped rock or just a flat surface. He could hold more with a bowl. However, with a flat surface, as soon as he took it out of the fire, he could start shaping the metal. With a bowl, he would have to pour it out onto another surface, and by the time he started working with it, it would have already hardened.

So he would use the flat surface. Now he had to figure out where to place the metal.

It needed to be inside the forge, obviously. But if he put it right onto the fire, he wouldn't be able to collect any of the molten metal. He needed to suspend it somehow. But anything he could use to keep it up would be burned down in minutes.

"Well, as the tree said to the logger, I'm stumped."

And Wally truly was. He majored in physics, not engineering or survival. He was a scientist, not a pioneer. But hey, he highly doubted they could have figured this out too. The only option was to fireproof logs and use them to hold the meteor up. But even if he thoroughly wet them down, the water would dry, and it would still burn.

Wally found himself just staring at the forge, trying to think about what he could do. He didn't even hear the sound of leaves cracking, twigs snapping.

Suddenly, a sharp fast pain erupted in his upper back. It was like a thousand syringes containing lava had just injected everything they had into his back.

"Ahhhh!"

Wally's entire body automatically lurched forward, hitting the dirt, scraping his chin. His entire vision briefly went blurry. Everything was twisted and distorted, and he heard some droning noise that seemed to be coming from everywhere. However, when the shock and adrenaline began to dull the pain, and he started to get his bearings, the noise was clearly coming from behind him. And it wasn't just any noise. It was a very low growl.

Wally slowly turned around, to find himself looking at one of the most terrifying creatures he had seen in his entire life.

It was the size of 3 adult-male lions, with hairless skin the color of jet black. The only other color was its very sharp white teeth. He couldn't see any eyes on its face, or a nose. It was entirely flat except for the mouth. It was on all fours, and was the length of a Volkswagen beetle. That wasn't accounting for its considerably long tail, which had a small opening at the end of it. However, a small white, bone-like point began sticking out of it. The object grew to a thin, 9 inch long spike.

Wally wondered why it was growing it just now, when he had a disturbing thought, and craned his head around. An almost identical spike was sticking out of the back of his right shoulder.

"Shit." Wally quietly said.

He then whipped his head back forward, and barely managed to throw himself out of the way as another spike came flying his way. This one lodged itself into one of the trees behind him.

"Double shit!"

Wally then made sure to never take his eyes off the creature after that. Now ay was he getting hit with one of those things again. So he stood his ground and waited for the beasts next shot. However, the beast surveyed him for a moment, and put his tail down. He then immediately leaned back and shot _himself_ at Wally this time. Wally then ran all the way behind it.

The beasts actions, however, troubled Wally. This animal was intelligent. That much he could tell. It had used the element of surprise and a ranged attack to try and kill him, and when it realized that that was no longer an option, it chose the direct approach. However, this was futile too, as Wally could also dodge the direct approach.

"Alright, time to teach this hellhound whose king of the jungle around here."

Wally then sped up to the tree house and grabbed his sharpest spear. Just as he sped out the door, another spike took a small chunk out of his forehead. Wally narrowly avoided falling off the platform. When he looked down to the jungle floor, though, the beast wasn't there.

Suddenly, its head came up through the floor right under Wally. Its jaws snapped at Wally's leg, who stumbled backwards. The rest of the creature came up, and moved towards Wally. Wally tried to take a stab with his spear, but the beast swiped and blocked the spear with one of its paws. It then took a lunge at Wally, and took out the south wall of the treehouse.

In the next 2 seconds, Wally quickly thought things over. He was a speedster, so he could usually come up with a strategy or answer to a problem very fast. However, the plans or equations were usually short term gain, long term loss. Such as this one was.

Wally had noticed that the beast's actions had started to destabilize the treehouse. Its climb had taken out a good chunk of the floor, and one of the supports under it. Its lunge had also severed a few ropes tied from the upper part to the branches of the tree. In conclusion, the treehouse was getting close to collapsing. However, when it did, Wally would make sure the beast was on it. He sped around the rest of the treehouse, cutting the rest of the ropes, causing the treehouse to begin to shake. The beast, realizing what was beginning to happen, tried to jump to the tree. However, Wally grabbed a hand-carved bowl filled with some kind of spice he found that had a vague resemblance to paprika.

He threw the bowl into the beast's face, then quickly ran to the other side as the beast roared and began clawing at thin air. Even though it had no eyes or nose, Wally figured it had senses on its face that allowed it to see just as well, if not better, than the average predator. As the beast began to recover, the treehouse began to tilt to one side. Knowing what was coming, Wally leaped onto a big, strong branch close to the treehouse.

He clearly heard the beast's roars as the treehouse slid off of the tree, and fell down 100 meters into the jungle canopy below.

The crash that followed was akin to the sound of a multi-car pileup. Wally quickly and carefully slid down the tree to the wreckage.

Everything was in pieces. Not one piece of wood or bamboo was still attached to another. Months of work, of making a place that he could call home and at least feel safe in, gone in 10 minutes. That wasn't all, however. The forge and other parts of his little science project had been crushed and annihilated by the treehouse. The transmitter was now broken beyond repair.

Wally felt it coming on again. The feeling. The rage. He tried to put it down. To stop it before it could take control of him. However, a black paw emerged from the rubble, and with it, a head. The beast had survived.

Wally suddenly decided to let the rage in, to have its way. This monster had taken down everything he had worked for in the past three and a half months. An now he had absolutely no way to contact anyone, human or alien. The beast had crushed the last of his hope. No way was it getting off easy. Or with its head. With his vision becoming red, and his head feeling like it was on fire Wally put every ounce of energy into his charge. He ran as fast as he could towards the beast, holding his spear in front of him, ready to strike. When he finally reached the monster, he put all of that energy into thrusting the spear at the beast's neck.

The spear contacted the beast's neck, then the head shattered. After that, the woos splintered into little pieces until the end was reach and the only thing left touching the beast's neck was Wally's hand.

Wally blinked, and when his eyes opened, he was lying face down on the ground, a sore feeling in his chest. The beast was about 50 feet away, one of its paws raised. Wally looked at his chest, and saw 4 long, bloody marks running diagonally across his chest and abdomen. He was in pain, and the energy boost the rage had given him was gone.

A chill spread on Wally when he realized that the beast wasn't covered in any scratches or cuts, despite having a treehouse that in total weighed well over a ton dropped on top of it.

"So this thing is not only smart, fast, and persistent, but it also has an apparently very, very tough hide. Great."

Wally was in absolutely no shape to fight this thing. He had no readily available weapons, and no effective way to hurt it. So he did the thing he was best at, he ran. He ran and ran and ran until he was close to passing out.

So he stopped and took a breather by a stream. After taking a nice long drink of cool clear water, he considered his options.

He was at least 800 miles away from the beast, so he was out of danger. But for how long? The beast had already proven itself a formidable opponent. Who knew how strong its tracking senses were? If it could find him, he was in deep shit.

So he would keep moving. After a few days rest of course. He knew that that creature wouldn't be able to catch up with him so soon. Wally set about making a fire, and when that was lit, he started moving some leaves and branches around. He soon came up with what would be an adequate bed for this evening. He then gathered some fruit and edible plants, and tried to sate the now aching hunger in his stomach.

After he finished eating, Wally moved to the stream, and began using a leaf and water to try and clean his wounds. With his healing abilities, they would heal fairly quickly. Once they did, Wally would continue on, and try to find a place where he could easily hunker down in, or until he was far, far away from that beast.

 **Oa**

 **November 1**

 **11:00 UTC**

 **4.4 months after chrysalis**

Hal, John, and Guy were curious as to why the Guardians had called an assembly. Every single green lantern in service was gathered here, on Oa. They only called an assembly of this magnitude where the entire universe was basically left unguarded if there was something that posed a threat to the entire Lantern Corps. This worried the trio, as they had been fairly certain that all of the sectors, including theirs, were relatively low on threats.

Their anticipation came to a head when the guardians started to gather in front of all the lanterns. The corps waited with bated breath for their leaders to explain what was happening. Once each guardian had found their place, one of them began speaking.

"Guardians, we have called you all here today, because we have reason to believe that there is a slim chance a new threat is rising. It's a very slim chance, but we cannot afford not to take the signs seriously."

He took a breath before continuing.

"Over the last few months, we have been observing the light spectrum throughout the universe. Green, yellow, blue and all the others. However, an old one has become more and more concentrated, more intense. The color red of rage."

A few murmurs were vaguely heard in the crowd. Hal, Guy, and John didn't understand what he was talking about, however.

"Now, most of you don't know what we are talking about. Only a few of you have been around long enough to remember what happened many centuries ago. We are not telling you to worry, because this could be nothing. However, there is a small, very small chance that the Red Lanterns are resurfacing."

What were quiet murmurs soon erupted into full blown shouts.

 **Unknown Place**

 **November 20**

 **18:20 UTC**

 **5 months after chrysalis**

Wally was very exhausted. Turns out the beast did have very exceptional tracking skills. And even though it wasn't as fast, it apparently had massive reserves of energy. On his second night at his temporary campsite, when his wounds had almost completely healed, the beast had launched a surprise attack while he was sleeping. It had gone 800 miles in 2 days, which only made sense if it had gone at its full speed without even stopping for a second. Luckily, he was in a tree, so the beast couldn't get too close without waking him up.

That was 45 days ago.

Now, he was limping through an entirely different section of the apparently endless jungle. It was on top of a mountain, which he had climbed hoping it would slow the beast down. He had had several additional encounters with the beast. In most of them, he had managed to get away relatively unscathed.

Most of them.

Six hours ago, the beast had managed to sneak up on Wally while he was washing up in a loud stream. By then, it had figured out that Wally's greatest tool were his legs, which is why it had launched one of its spikes into the back of his knee.

His speed healing prevented him from bleeding out, but he could barely stand, much less run. The only reason he got away that time was because the river was large, rough, and very fast. He rode it for about 5 hours until he beached himself. He did that because he saw the mountain hew was currently climbing in the distance. He spent an hour getting there and ascending it.

Now, he was nearing the top, and about ready to collapse.

Honestly, he was out of strength and hope. He had no shelter, hadn't eaten in days, and was still trapped on this godforsaken jungle hellhole.

However, when he reached the top, he saw it. He saw what could possibly be his salvation, his last hope.

In the distance, about two miles from the base of the mountain, there was an object lying in the middle of the jungle. It looked like some kind of craft, and based on its shape and design, a space worthy one. If it could still fly or had some type of communication equipment, then maybe he could get out of here.

Wally wanted to wait a little, to rest and be glad for his fortunate find. However, when he looked back the way he came, he could just barely make out a tiny blot in the very far distance, back by the river. It was black, and it was slowly moving.

"Fuck, no time to waste."

So Wally began descending the mountain, which was easier and less strenuous than ascending, but still hard on his bum leg. But still, he continued on, because that ship was all he had left at this point.

 **10 miles back**

The beast followed the river. It knew that the prey had used the river to get away from the beast. But the beast knew that it would eventually find and catch up to the prey. And this time the prey would not escape.

Soon, the beast came to an area where its hyper senses detected footprints, and a distinct smell it had associated with the prey. The prey had finally left the water. Now it would be easier to catch and kill with its wounded leg.

The beast began to salivate as it though about finally catching what had proven to be the most challenging prey it had ever encountered. However, the beast knew from the beginning that it would kill the prey sooner or later.

It always did.

 **Unknown Place**

 **November 20**

 **18:40 UTC**

 **5 months after chrysalis**

Upon closer inspection, Wally knew that he wouldn't be able to get off the planet in this thing. When he finally got to the ship, he saw just how damaged the craft was. It engines looked utterly destroyed, and the hull was torn in several places. No way was it getting off the ground.

However, the technology inside could still be good.

So, Wally went inside through one of the holes in the hull. He decided to try and make his way to the bridge, which looked to be at the top of the vessel. He continued through a maze of hallways, trying to make sure he was still going up.

Eventually, Wally thought he had made it to the bridge. He was standing in front of a set of automatic doors that looked like the most secure out of all the ones he had seen. They were open just a little bit, but enough for him to squeeze through.

When he got inside, Wally's throat tightened at the sight in front of him. There were a bunch of dark monitors lining the walls of the bridge. They each had chairs and keyboards in front of them. Right in front of the front window, there was a specialized panel and chair that looked like were the pilot worked. In that chair was a figure. It was about the size of Superman, with pale grey skin, and no clothes on its body, none at all. It was hunched forward, its head pressing against the window.

Actually, pressing wasn't a good term. More like, crushed into the window. The window itself was almost shattered, but still intact. The area around the creature's head was covered in dried, green blood that was probably years old.

Deciding to move past that, Wally quickly hobbled around, checking all the stations to see if anything worked. However, as more and more screens failed to come on, the more crushed Wally became. Soon, he realized that the chance of anything working was impossible. As he realized this, he heard a roar come from outside.

"It's here, and I'm in no shape to fight it."

Wally realized there was absolutely no hope left. He was going to die. After so much, this was how he went out. Now he wished he had died from the MFD. At least then he got to go out saving the world. Instead he was a crippled rat just waiting to be put out of its misery. This made him angry.

Actually, not just angry; livid. He felt it again, the rage. He felt it coming into his head again. As he felt this, something lit up in the corner of his eye. He turned his head, and saw something glowing on the alien's hand. It was some kind of object, around the alien's finger. It was small, likely some kind of ring.

That wasn't what intrigued him though. What intrigued him was the power he could feel from it. He could feel the rage that was in his head emanating from the ring. Suddenly, he understood why he had been having these episodes since he got here. The ring had been responsible for them. Wally heard the beast getting closer, and his rage began to grow.

As this happened, the ring began to glow brighter, and the alien's hand began to shift. Wally watched, mesmerized, as the aliens hand shifted towards Wally. Knowing what was probably coming, and in awe of its power, Wally slowly rose his hand up.

As the beast broke through the doors into the bridge, it saw its prey standing with its arm outstretched. It immediately ran towards its prey, intent on finishing this hunt.

When it was 15 feet away, the ring flew off of the alien's finger, and flew towards Wally's hand.

 **Outside**

For about one second, everything outside appeared to be peaceful. There was nothing that could disturb this. However, the next second, a large red flash emanated from the bridge of the vessel. Sounds of a struggle could be heard, and there were several grunts, before one large cry rang out.

Then silence.


End file.
